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Parenthood and Leaving Home in Young Adulthood
Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 31-April 2, 2011
Cohort(s):
Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher:
Population Association of AmericaKeyword(s):
Adolescent Fertility; Age at First Birth; Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Delinquency/Gang Activity; Family Formation; Family Structure; Gender Differences; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Parent-Child Relationship/Closeness; Parenthood; Teenagers; Transition, Adulthood

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

With the rise in non-marital fertility in the late 20th century, the sequencing of transitions in early adulthood has become increasingly complex. Many young adults become parents before union formation, often before leaving home. We use the Young Adult Sample, children of women in NLSY79. The effect of having a child was approximately proportional between ages 15 and 28. Parenthood encouraged leaving home between 14 and 28 overall, and to each 'child' living arrangement (with or without a partner) while it reduced the speed young adults leave home to a child-free living arrangement. However, becoming a parent does not have a negative effect on men's leaving home to live with a (new) partner with no children present, unlike the case for women. Further, becoming a parent has a much less negative effect on men's leaving home to live in non-family residential independence than it does for women.

Bibliography Citation

Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin. "Parenthood and Leaving Home in Young Adulthood." Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 31-April 2, 2011.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The transition to fatherhood is likely influenced by family structures and transitions experienced in childhood. In order to understand and alleviate the effects of childhood family structure, it is also important to examine the effects of economic deprivation, parenting processes, and adolescent behavior on this transition. This paper focuses on how family structure and processes shape the transition to problematic fatherhood—early and particularly nonresidential—among a relatively disadvantaged group of young men. The data come from the linked Child-Mother and Young Adult Samples of the NLSY79, which provide information on the children of the women of the NLSY79 from birth until they enter young adulthood. The results suggest that males growing up with a single parent or in an unstable family transition to fatherhood early, particularly nonresidential fatherhood, but these effects are mediated by economic deprivation, parenting processes, and adolescent behaviors.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

With increases in nonmarital fertility, the sequencing of transitions in early adulthood has become even more complex. Once the primary transition out of the parental home, marriage was first replaced by nonfamily living and cohabitation; more recently, many young adults have become parents before entering a coresidential union. Studies of leaving home, however, have not examined the role of early parenthood. Using the Young Adult Study of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (n = 4,674), we use logistic regression to analyze parenthood both as a correlate of leaving home and as a route from the home. We find that even in mid-adolescence, becoming a parent is linked with leaving home. Coming from a more affluent family is linked with leaving home via routes that do not involve children rather than those that do, and having a warm relationship with either a mother or a father retards leaving home, particularly to nonfamily living, but is not related to parental routes out of the home.

Bibliography Citation

Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin, Sandra L. Hofferth and Sally C. Curtin. "Parenthood and Leaving Home in Young Adulthood." Population Research and Policy Review 33,6 (December 2014): 771-796.

From Sons to Fathers in the NLSY79
Presented: Montreal, QC, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 2006
Cohort(s):
Children of the NLSY79
Publisher:
American Sociological AssociationKeyword(s):
Age at First Birth; Child Support; Family Formation; Fathers and Children; Fathers, Presence; Marital Satisfaction/Quality; Parent-Child Interaction; Parent-Child Relationship/Closeness

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Abstract: With the rise in out-of-wedlock childbearing and divorce in the last quarter of the 20th century, an increasing proportion of children have been exposed not only to life with a single mother but to a variety of new family forms. In this paper we examine the determinants of men's early parental roles, distinguishing factors that affect being a father versus childless, being a coresident vs. a noncoresident father, as well as those predicting being a stepfather. The data come from the Child-Mother and Young Adult Samples of the NLSY79, which provide information on the children of the NLSY79 from birth until they enter young adulthood. The results support previous research showing the economic and educational disadvantage of men not living with their biological children and, to a lesser degree, men who become stepfathers.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This article examines the determinants of men's early parental roles, distinguishing factors that affect being a father versus being childless, and factors that affect being a resident versus a nonresident father, in the context of having a partner or not. We also consider whether these patterns have changed between 1985 and 2004. The data come from the linked Child-Mother and Young Adult Samples of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), which provide information on the children of the NLSY79 from birth until they enter young adulthood, and from the original youth sample of parallel ages. The results support previous research showing the importance of economic and educational disadvantages and nontraditional family structure on being a nonresident father. The effects of family structure appear to have attenuated between generations as determinants of men's early parental roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housework in the Family Economy: Division of Labor between Wife, Husband, and Children. Also: Work in the Home: The Productive Context of Family Relationships
Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1989 and Albany, Conference on Demographic Perspectives, 1990
Cohort(s):
Mature Women, Young Women
Publisher:
American Sociological AssociationKeyword(s):
Attitudes; Children; Family Resources; Housework/Housewives; Husbands; Sex Roles; Sexual Division of Labor; Time Use

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper examines how families allocate the labor of their members to the productive activities that constitute housework, focusing on trade-offs between adults and children, and between spouses, using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Mature and Young Women, including questions on responsibility for a series of household tasks, asked in 1982 and 1983. Consistent effects of limitations of the wife's time available for housework are found; both hours of work and disability increase the amount of housework done by husbands and children. Nontraditional attitudes about sex roles in the family also increase the contribution of husbands and children to housework. Finally, families headed by remarried couples share housework in different ways than do others; stepfathers appear less involved in the family division of labor than other men, leaving children to pick up the slack. Clearly, family members can and do substitute for each other in housework economy; how they do so depends on the availability of various members, attitudes, and past family experiences. [Sociological Abstracts, Inc.]

Bibliography Citation

Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin and Linda J. Waite. "Housework in the Family Economy: Division of Labor between Wife, Husband, and Children. Also: Work in the Home: The Productive Context of Family Relationships." Presented: San Francisco, CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, 1989 and Albany, Conference on Demographic Perspectives, 1990.

Nestleaving Patterns and the Transition to Marriage for Young Men and Women
Journal of Marriage and Family 49,3 (August 1987): 507-516.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/352196
Cohort(s):
Young Men, Young Women
Publisher:
National Council on Family RelationsKeyword(s):
Attitudes; Family Influences; Gender Differences; Life Cycle Research; Marriage; Nestleaving

Young adults have been leaving the parental home at increasingly early ages over recent decades. They have also been delaying marriage. This article argues that the increase in independent living during young adulthood may have caused some of the delay in marriage and examines this question on the basis of data from the NLS of Young Men and Young Women. It tests the hypotheses that: (1) living independently during young adulthood delays marriage; (2) the effects of nonfamily living are smaller for those in group quarters than for others; (3) living away has larger effects if it occurs relatively early in adulthood; and (4) the effects are stronger for women than for men. The results provide some support for these hypotheses, especially among women.

Bibliography Citation

Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin and Linda J. Waite. "Nestleaving Patterns and the Transition to Marriage for Young Men and Women." Journal of Marriage and Family 49,3 (August 1987): 507-516.

New Families, No Families?: the Transformation of the American Home
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991
Cohort(s):
Mature Women, Young Men, Young Women
Publisher:
University of California PressKeyword(s):
Divorce; Dual-Career Families; Family Formation; Family Structure; Marriage; Sexual Division of Labor

Based on the National Longitudinal Survey data, this 303 page book examines the process of social change, focusing on the effects of marriage and divorce on the family. In the context of the development of egalitarian gender roles, the authors ask whether trends in nonmarriage, nonparenthood, and divorce are leading to a future of "no families" or whether the family can become a sharing partnership thereby forming "new families." The book is a systematic assessment of family patterns that have emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of increased employment of women, divorce, nonfamily living, and declining fertility. Detailed analyses of marriage, parenthood, divorce, the division of household labor, husbands' and children's share in household tasks, and the role of husbands, wives, and children in the domestic economy are provided. Family differences by race, region, and community size are also indicated. In light of broader social and demographic processes that affect the family, future trends, e.g., an increasing number of dual career families and alternative families, are projected.

Bibliography Citation

Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin and Linda J. Waite. New Families, No Families?: the Transformation of the American Home. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991.

Among the many transitions young people make as they enter adulthood, marriage is perhaps the most important. This paper uses data from the NLS of Young Women and Young Men to examine the transition to marriage and how it differs by sex, testing the extent of variation in the desirability of marriage for men and women, and the effects of marriage market factors and marital and nonmarital roles. The design of the analysis allows the effects of these factors to vary over the young adult years. The pattern of findings suggests that recent declines in the marriage rate have not resulted from increased barriers to marriage but from declines in relative preferences for marriage.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Prepared for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Among the many transitions young people make as they enter adulthood, marriage is perhaps the most important. This paper uses data from the NLS Young Women's and Young Men's cohorts to examine the transition to marriage and how it differs by sex, testing the extent of variation in the desirability of marriage for men and women, and the effects of marriage market factors and marital and nonmarital roles. The design of the analysis allows the effects of these factors to vary over the young adult years. The pattern of findings suggest that recent declines in the marriage rate have not resulted from increased barriers to marriage but from declines in relative preferences for marriage.

This study examined the association between paternal and maternal employment changes and changes in the frequency of fathers praising, showing affection, disciplining, and reading to children. Data were drawn from the Young Adult supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979). Supporting economic theory, fathers were more involved when they and their partner were employed full time and were less involved when their employment exceeded that of their partner. Although fathers tended to be less involved when they worked less, fathers who held traditional gender role attitudes were more involved than those who held nontraditional gender role attitudes. The results suggest the important part fathers' attitudes and values have in influencing their involvement with children under differing employment conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Family Structure and the Transition to Early Parenthood
Presented: Detroit, MI, Population Association of America Meetings, May 2009.
Also: http://paa2009.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=90760
Cohort(s):
Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher:
Population Association of AmericaKeyword(s):
Adolescent Fertility; Age at First Birth; Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Cohabitation; Educational Attainment; Family Structure; Fatherhood; Fathers, Absence; Fathers, Presence; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Parent-Child Interaction; Parenting Skills/Styles

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper describes how family structure and processes shape the transition to early fatherhood and motherhood among a relatively disadvantaged group of youth. The data come from the linked Child-Mother and Young Adult Samples of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 (NLSY79), which provide information on the children of the women of the NLSY79 from birth until they enter young adulthood. The results suggest that both females and males growing up with a single parent or in an unstable family transition to parenthood early, particularly nonresidential fatherhood for males. These direct effects are stronger for girls than for boys. For both males and females the effects are strongly mediated by parenting processes and adolescent behaviors, and shaped by economic circumstances. Having experienced nontraditional family structures in childhood, acts to reduce the likelihood that males father their first child within marriage, demonstrating how changes in family structure alter family structure patterns over time and generations.

Bibliography Citation

Hofferth, Sandra L. and Frances Kobrin Goldscheider. "Family Structure and the Transition to Early Parenthood." Presented: Detroit, MI, Population Association of America Meetings, May 2009.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

With the rise in out-of-wedlock childbearing and divorce in the last quarter of the twentieth century, an increasing proportion of children have been exposed to a variety of new family forms. Little research has focused on the consequences of childhood family structure for men's transition to fatherhood or on the family processes that account for the effects of family structure on the likelihood that young women and men become first-time unmarried parents, what we now call “fragile families.” The data come from the linked Children and Young Adult samples of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), which provide information on the children of the women of the NLSY79 from birth until they enter young adulthood. Females growing up with a single parent and males experiencing an unstable family transition to parenthood early, particularly to nonresidential fatherhood for males. For males, the effects are strongly mediated by parenting processes and adolescent behaviors and are shaped by economic circumstances. Having experienced multiple transitions as a child is associated with a reduced likelihood that males father their first child within marriage and an increased likelihood that they become fathers within cohabitation, demonstrating how changes in family structure alter family structure patterns over time and generations.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper tests the theory of compensating differentials by examining whether working women trade earnings for temporal, spatial, or social flexibility on the job. Women with greater family responsibilities, less help with housework, more traditional gender attitudes, higher-earning husbands, and female-dominated occupations who also hold flexible jobs are no more likely to exhibit an earnings trade-off than women with fewer family or gender- related constraints. Based on an analysis of the National Longitudinal Surveys of young and mature women, the only support for compensating differentials is provided by the older cohort of women who trade off earnings for home work. Although the study supports some aspects of new structuralist theory, the best overall explanation for the findings is gender-related. Flexible gender ideology has incorporated women's need for flexible work as a justification for lower pay, regardless of whether women's family situations constrain the terms of their employment.

Bibliography Citation

Silver, Hilary and Frances Kobrin Goldscheider. "Flexible Work and Housework: Work and Family Constraints on Women's Domestic Labor." Social Forces 72,4 (June 1994): 1103-1119.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Young adults in recent cohorts have been leaving the parental home earlier and marrying later now than they did several decades ago, resulting in an increased period of independent living. This paper explores the consequences of time spent in non-family living, using data from the NLS of Young Men and Young Women. The authors expected that experience in living away from home prior to marriage will cause young adults to change their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, and move them away from a traditional family orientation. They found strong support for this hypothesis for young women; those who lived independently became more likely to plan for employment, lowered their expected family size, became more accepting of employment of mothers, and more non- traditional on sex roles in the family than those who lived with their parents. Non-family living had much weaker effects on young men in the few tests that were performed for them. The paper also addresses the conditions under which living away increases individualism, and discusses the implications of these findings.

Bibliography Citation

Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider and Christina Witsberger. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51,4 (August 1986): 541-554.